Valera and O'Day with opposite opportunities (O's up 7-1)

NEW YORK - The Orioles' roster makeover includes Breyvic Valera's first start with them today to close out a two-game series at Yankee Stadium.

Valera appeared in 20 games with the Dodgers this season before the Orioles acquired him in the Manny Machado trade and assigned him to Triple-A Norfolk. He was summoned yesterday with Jonathan Schoop headed to the Brewers at the non-waiver deadline.

In 25 career games, the first five with the Cardinals in 2017, Valera has gone 6-for-39 with four RBIs and four runs scored. He could get regular playing time, be used in a utility role or head back to the minors with Jonathan Villar joining the club Thursday in Texas.

"Very thankful first and foremost with the organization, very excited to be here and for the opportunity that has presented itself," he said via translator Ramón Alarcón, "and I will try to take advantage of it."

The Orioles were interested in Valera over the winter, but the Cardinals traded him to the Dodgers on April 1. He was on the move again three months later.

"It's baseball life," he said. "One day you are in one place, the next day you are in a different place. I'm just really thankful to be here, for the opportunity that the organization has provided. I feel that I'm getting along with my new teammate, so I'm just really thankful.

"The first (trade) is always the toughest one. After spending six, seven, eight years with a single organization and all of a sudden you're traded to a different organization, you take some time. Obviously, you are attached to that first organization and there's a lot of emotions going on. Right now, I'm already adjusting better to it and I'm just thankful to be here and for the opportunity that has been provided."

As Valera was meeting his new teammates, reliever Darren O'Day tried to say his goodbyes from long distance.

O'Day is out for the season following hamstring surgery. He didn't make the trip to New York before the Orioles included him yesterday with starter Kevin Gausman in the trade with the Braves.

"I would imagine yesterday was a pretty tough day in the clubhouse, so it would have been nice to be able to be there and maybe help some guys through it and be able to say goodbye to these guys in person," he said while on a conference call with beat writers. "I'm working on texting and calling guys.

"It's pretty unorthodox, I guess, to be traded when you're out for the season, but it is what it is. It's a new beginning, so I'll go through and talk to all these guys individually. I've been through it, I've got friends on both teams, so it probably won't be the last goodbye forever with these guys. Just, 'I'll see you down the road.'"

Executive vice president Dan Duquette approached O'Day a few days ago to gauge whether the veteran right-hander would waive his 10-5 rights and approve a trade. It probably didn't hurt that O'Day and his wife have a home in Atlanta.

"He asked if I would be open to being traded," O'Day said. "I asked him to where and he said, 'Atlanta' and I said, 'Well, most likely but I'd have to speak to my wife about it, the boss.' We talked about it, and I'm getting up there in age and I only have so many chances left to win. It looks like the Orioles are rebuilding, which I think is the right things to do, and they won't be competing for the postseason next year, so the chance to go to Atlanta, where they're kind of on the upswing in the organization, is one that I didn't hesitate to give my consent to.

"One of my fondest memories with the Orioles was in 2012, kind of the year we brought back good baseball to Baltimore and to a hungry fan base. I guess Atlanta's kind of on that upswing right now. It probably feels a lot like that. It's an exciting opportunity to get to do that again."

O'Day knows Dave Wallace and Dom Chiti, who are in the Braves front office after serving as Orioles pitching and bullpen coaches, respectively. He'll rejoin Gausman, reliever Brad Brach, outfielder Nick Markakis and infielder Ryan Flaherty.

It's going to feel more like a reunion.

"We visited Atlanta in the last month and just being in that stadium is enough to make an impression on you," he said. "The organization did a great job with the stadium, it's beautiful. My wife and I happen to own a home 20 minutes from it, with his a big thing. That made it easy. I have friends on the team from previous teams, so that's exciting. But yeah, going to Atlanta was the easiest decision for me. But I would have had to strongly consider going to any other team, to a team that has a chance to win next year.

"When I played for the Rangers, I played in two World Series, we were one strike away from winning the ring a couple times, but we just couldn't do it, and ever since then it's been my goal to get back there and have a chance to do that again. That's the ultimate goal. I think that's why we play.

"There's a handful of cities I don't want to play in, so those cities I would say probably know, but the majority of contenders that look good next year, I'd probably go."

O'Day will take more time to reflect on his seven years in Baltimore, his lone All-Star appearance in 2015 and the massive turnover in personnel, with only three players left from the 2014 team that won the division - including Chris Davis, who was serving a suspension during the playoffs.

"Right now, it's a lot of emotions," he said. "First and foremost, I'm going to miss my friends, the guys we spend eight months together. You guys are in there and see. We're right on top of each other for eight months. You have no choice but to be friends.

"I'm very grateful for the time that I've spent there. I've never been on a losing team until last year. And last year was just, I have no idea what hit us, but something hit us pretty hard. Outside of that, the past calendar year we've just been a winning team. We had a blast.

"My favorite stop so far in my baseball career was the time that I spent in Baltimore. We put together some pretty good teams there for a while. I think we eventually paid the price that is coming to fruition now just from trying to compete every year. Eventually that's going to catch up to you and ownership and the front office did what they thought was right, which I agree with. I think it was the right thing to do. You can't argue with that. That's the business aspect of baseball and use as professionals have to accept that."

The Orioles are listing Andrew Cashner, TBD, Dylan Bundy and TBD as their starters for the series in Texas that begins Thursday. David Hess could start Friday.

The Rangers are listing Yovani Gallardo, Ariel Jurado, Mike Minor and Martin Peréz.

Update: The Orioles sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning and took a 5-0 lead against Sonny Gray. They collected six hits, including Trey Mancini's RBI single, Renato Núñez's two-run double and Tim Beckham's two-run single.

Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the second with a home run.

Update II: The tarp is off the field with the Orioles leading 7-1 in the bottom of the third inning. Mancini homered in the third.